Administrative Assistant's Update

P r o f e s s io n a l D e v e l o P m e n t f o r C a n a Da' s o f f iC e s u P P o r t s ta f f Administrative Assistant's July 2014 PM #40065782 UPDATE PM #40065782 P r o f e s s io n a l D e v e l o P m e n t f o r C a n a Da' s o f f iC e s u P P o r t s ta f f Administrative Assistant's July 2014 uPDATE Job hopping Canadian workers are spending less time in their jobs. Just 30 per cent said they have been on the job for more than four years, according to several polls with 1,000 to 5,000 respondents. That's down from 60 per cent in 2002. And 48 per cent of respon- dents reported having three or more distinct career paths. Why Canadians leave 37% Relationship with their boss. 29% Bored, unhappy with the work. 20% Found a better opportunity. 14% Poor fit with culture or co-workers. In a related poll, 38 per cent of workers said they have left their job because of stress. In In- dia, just 19 per cent said they've left because of stress. Source: Canadian HR Reporter via Monster and Workopolis. InsIDE Net neutrality . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Sounds boring, but you need to know about it. Power struggles . . . . . . . . . . 6 How to "drop the rope." Great Google tricks . . . . . . . . 7 It's much more than just a search engine. Use Google to translate, calculate and more. Procrastination . . . . . . . . . . 8 Our mindfulness columnist on why we procrastinate. Working with Millennials Creative, outspoken and always up for a challenge By Joyce Grant I recently had a discussion with the HR director of a large multi- national company. I asked her what she found the most chal- lenging about her job. She said, "It's the Millennials. We're trying to figure out how to work with them. They can be challenging." Millennials, also known as Generation Y, are the people who achieved young adulthood around the year 2000. They're now between 25 and 32 years old. They're different from their counterparts who are five or 10 years older than them (in other words, us). Millennials were reared at a time when parents wanted more for their kids—more respect, more education, more success. And parents told their kids that they could do it. They encour- aged them in a way that perhaps our parents did not. So when they get to the work- force, they expect to succeed and they expect success to come quickly. But it's more likely that the prob- lem doesn't lie with the Millenni- als—it lies with us. For one thing, a lot of older work- ers have a chip on their shoulder when they hear a Millennial asking for perks that we didn't get—or even have the gaul to ask for—at their age. They demand better technology, a more flexible schedule, and more input into the management of the department or even the company. When Millennials are asked to do something, they ask "why?" And they don't respect hierarchy the way we do. They'll speak their mind to their boss or their boss's boss for that matter. You may already be bristling as you read this. In your mind, Millen- nials may seem spoiled and entitled. However, there's another way of looking at it. Millennials have one huge char- Continued on page 4 Photo: Andresr/shutterstock.com

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